Pieke Potloed is a Maastricht institution. A true Maastricht lad, always up for mischief and adventure, always with a face blackened by mud or coal dust. He owes his name to puppeteer Pieke Dassen, who until 1975 made thousands of children laugh in the Poesjenellenkelder beneath the Dinghuis.
Pieke Potloed is a bar-bistro in the Sporenstraat, just off the Vrijthof. A sandwich or a plenkske to share by day, Maastricht classics such as zoervleis and knien in ‘t zoer by night, and over forty beers on the menu, including our own Pieke’s Bloont. No white tablecloths, but a lively bar, drawings by Guy Olivier on the walls and staff who remember your name.
Lunch, drinks or dinner: Pieke is open all day. The kitchen cooks until 21.00 and the bar simply keeps pouring afterwards.
In the puppet show, Pieke Potloed was the only puppet who spoke dialect. Thousands of Maastricht locals still look back fondly on the performances in the Poesjenellenkelder, grown-ups too: Pieke Dassen’s political puppet theatre was a treat every time.
Older locals knew the café as In de Gouwe Poort. Since 2016 the bar-bistro has been in the hands of Gilbèr Royen, for years a familiar face behind the bar of the Struys on the Vrijthof. Gilbèr is a two-time draught-beer champion, a fully trained barista and a lover of classic cocktails. Under him a fresh wind blows through the place, and drink stands on an equal footing with food.
Gilbèr Royen behind the bar
eight of them on draught, plus our own Pieke’s Bloont
possibly the best-poured pils in town
Iech bin Pieke Potloed, zoe neump men miech.
Iech höb alle daog e vreiselik zwart geziech.
Geer moot miech neet vraoge boe iech dat vaan höb,
keump ‘t vaan de modder of vaan de kolestöb.
It takes a bit of finding, but whoever finds Pieke Potloed once keeps coming back. The Sporenstraat is a cut-through from the Grote Staat to the Sint-Amorsplein: a quiet spot in the busy shopping and nightlife heart of Maastricht.
Inside it is calm, outside on the patio calmer still. Order a plenkske, a little pot of zoervleis or possibly the best-poured pils in town, and stay a while.
Everything you see drawn here comes from the pen of illustrator Guy Olivier: the chef with the cooking pot on the menu, the chicken on the wine glass, the steaming pot, the dancing little pot. Ink on paper, with the humour that suits Pieke. The originals hang in the restaurant.
